


Drying Brother's Tears

by Zetal (Rodinia)



Series: YoI Ships Bingo [12]
Category: Yuri!!! on Ice (Anime)
Genre: Bad Takeshi, Big Sisters are the best, Bullying, Gen, M/M, Yuuri Is Viktorsexual From The First Time He Saw Him, Yuuri cries a lot
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-14
Updated: 2017-08-14
Packaged: 2018-12-15 03:07:28
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,979
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11797125
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rodinia/pseuds/Zetal
Summary: Mari was used to Yuuri’s tears.  She’d been there when he was just a tiny baby and wouldn’t stop crying unless someone picked him up.  She’d been there through the scraped knees and bumps on the head and dropped ice creams.  Yuuri crying was nothing new.





	Drying Brother's Tears

**Author's Note:**

> Written for YoI Ship Bingo  
> Square: Mari/Yuuri
> 
> [Prompt:](https://hellsdemonictrinity.tumblr.com/post/160523410875/angstfluff-prompt-list) 4\. “I thought things were going great.”

Mari had been the one to find him after school one day, hiding in a back room at the inn with tears rolling down his face. “Yuuri? What’s wrong?”

Yuuri looked up and tried to wipe his face clean. “One of the boys at school pushed me down and called me a girl because I do ballet.”

“I’d love to see him say that to Minako’s face.” Especially about Yuuri, whose praises Minako was already singing to anyone who would listen. Apparently her little brother was some kind of prodigy with ballet. Mari tried not to be too jealous.

“I don’t mind being called a girl. There’s nothing wrong with being a girl. You and Yuuko are girls and you’re pretty awesome. Minako’s kind of a girl.”

Mari tried not to smile too much at Yuuri’s compliment. “So what’s with the tears, then?”

“It hurt when I fell, I think I hit my head on something, and he called me a baby because I cried. Then other kids started laughing at me.”

“You’re not a baby. I bet he’d have cried, too, if he fell down and it hurt. This kid got a name?”

Yuuri shook his head. “I don’t want to tell you, because you’ll do something. I just want to go to school tomorrow and pretend like this never happened. Okay?”

“Okay. Tell me if something like this happens again, though. No one hurts my little brother.” She was still gonna see if she could track the kid down.

 

Mari had been the one to find him when he was crying in the locker room at the Ice Castle. “Yuuri?”

“Hi, Mari.”

“What’s wrong?”

“Nothing. I’m fine.” Yuuri wiped his face, which didn’t do anything to clear away the new tears that fell. “We practiced falling. It hurts.”

That wasn't all there was to it. No way. “Which is why you’re an hour late for dinner?”

“What?” Yuuri looked at the clock. “Oh no! Are Mom and Dad mad at me?”

“They’re just worried. It’s not like you to be late.”

“Oh.” Yuuri got to his feet. “Let’s go, then.”

The next day, Yuuko came to her. “Takeshi – the coach’s son – is kind of a bully. He doesn’t like Yuuri for some reason. I don’t know why. I try to help him, but that just makes it worse.”

“Uh-huh. Thanks.”

Mari went to watch practice that day. Afterwards, she caught Takeshi by the arm. “Hey. You got a problem with Yuuri?”

“He’s a fat pig who hogs the ice.”

“He’s got just as much right to the ice as you do. I know I heard your dad tell you to leave him alone at least three times. Why won’t you?”

“Because!" Takeshi tried to hold the glare, but Mari was too good. Takeshi's gaze dropped and he scuffed his foot. "I get mad and forget.”

“Well, here’s the deal. You start working on your memory, or I’ll help you out with it. You’re twice his size. You could hurt him badly. You could hurt Yuuko, when she tries to intervene. Straighten up, act right, or you and me are going to have a problem. Understood?”

Takeshi nodded hard. “Understood.”

 

Mari had been the one to find Yuuri crying in the Ice Castle locker room again, years later. “Do I need to have another chat with Takeshi?”

“No. I’m never going to be good enough, Mari! Look at this!” Yuuri showed Mari the video he was watching. “I have to meet him. I have to compete against him. I have to get that good. How can I, though? How can some nobody from Hasetsu hope to meet a god like that?”

Hoo boy. So this was what Yuuri looked like with a crush. It was kind of cute, in a way. What happened to Yuuko, though? She’d thought he had a bit of a crush on her. If he did, it was nothing like this one, though. Maybe Takeshi would see that too and be more inclined to leave Yuuri alone. “Hard work, dedication, and sacrifice. Isn’t that what all the movies say? You work as hard as you can, and then you work harder, and your dreams will come true?”

“Will hard work be enough? How can it be? I don’t have any talent, and Mom and Dad could never hire a coach like Yakov Feltsman, so how am I supposed to get good enough on my own?”

“I don’t know. Only thing I do know is you’ll never make it if you don’t try.”

 

She’d been the one to find him the night before he left for America, crying in his room. “Yuuri? Hey. Don’t be scared. This is what you have to do if you’re gonna make it to Russia.”

“I know. That doesn’t make it any less scary. What if it’s not enough? Celestino is an amazing coach and I don’t know how Mom and Dad are going to pay for that, plus school.”

“You have a lot of money coming in from sponsors and merchandise sales, you know. That’s how. Don’t worry about that. Just make the most of this opportunity.”

“What if I fail?”

“Then at least you went for it. You put yourself out there, did the best you could. What’s to regret about that?”

“I’ll have let everyone down. Even you and Mom and Dad.”

“No, you won’t. Only way you’d let me down is not to try. You’ll do fine. Celestino will make you a better skater, and in the end, isn’t that the most important thing?”

“What’s the point of getting better if I’m never good enough to meet Viktor?”

Okay. Yuuri’s little crush had gotten way out of hand, it seemed. Not that this was news to Mari, but him staking his entire self-worth on it? That was. “What if you are good enough to meet Viktor? You’ll never know if you don’t try.”

“I know. I’m doing this. I’m just scared.”

 

Mari had been the one to find him the night he got home, still in the shrine. She had a good feeling it would be where she’d find him the night Viktor arrived. She was right. “Hey. So that’s Viktor, huh?”

“Yes. Yes. That’s Viktor. That is Viktor Nikiforov. In Hasetsu. At Yutopia. Viktor Nikiforov is at Yutopia.”

“Congratulations? Can’t imagine he’d come here for any reason but you.” She could only just barely imagine that Viktor would come for Yuuri, and that's only because he already had, but she didn't feel the need to say that part.

“I don’t know what he’s doing here! He says he’s come to coach me! Why would he do that? He can’t coach me and train his own programs at the same time!”

“Maybe he’s retiring?” It didn’t make any sense to Mari either.

“Why would he do that? He’s on top of the world! Five straight world championships, five straight Grand Prix Finals golds… he hasn’t lost anything at all in over three years!”

“Sounds boring to me. Show up, get gold, do it again the next month?” There were certainly worse ways to have a monotonous life, but monotony was still monotony, and someone like Viktor who lived for surprising others would hate that.

“But why here? Why me? I’m just a dime-a-dozen skater who falls apart when I get too close to my dreams.”

“About that. Did you even talk to him while you were at the Finals?” Maybe there'd been some kind of miscommunication? Yuuri had said something that Viktor took differently than Yuuri thought he did?

“No. After everything, when we were leaving after the Free Skate, he didn’t even know who I was. Thought I was a fan. Offered me a commemorative photo. And this is after skating with me! Sharing the ice with me for practice and warmups!”

“Ouch. Damn.” If that were true, then Viktor was a lot more self-centered and oblivious and downright arrogant than Mari had ever thought – and she thought him plenty of those three things already. “So… what, Stammi Vicino? He saw the triplets’ video?”

“Must be. He saw it and came out here to coach me so I’d never embarrass him like that again?”

“Or maybe he liked what he saw and came out here to figure out how the person who skated that program also failed so badly at the Finals. I dunno.”

 

Now, Mari was the one Yuuri had come to, tears freely streaming down his face. “Shit. What happened?”

“Viktor and I got into a fight. Huge one. I don’t know if we can… if there’s any making it right.”

“What the hell? I thought things were going great. He put that ring on you.” If life was going to kick Yuuri that hard, Mari was going to have a very difficult ass-kicking to deliver. How did you kick life's ass for hurting your brother?

“Actually, I’m the one who… not the point. He misses the ice. The competition. It’s so obvious. So I told him I’m planning to retire, and he started crying!”

“What.” Even worse. She just might have to kick Yuuri's ass. How could Yuuri be this... dense?

“I know! I was so surprised. He was mad. Why would he be mad at me?”

“Gosh, I dunno. Me and him had a good chat when he came back to Japan because of Makkachin. He told me how the night of the banquet, it felt like the first time he’d seen the sun in years. When he came out to Hasetsu, it felt like he was going home, even though he’d never been there before. It felt like for the first time in years, life was worth living, because love was possible and he’d found it. Then things went a little screwy and he didn’t know why.” Mari stopped as it hit her. “The banquet. The one you forgot about. Yeah, I can see why he’d be expecting a much different welcome than what he got.”

“You knew about the banquet?!”

“Viktor thought you remembered, and since you hadn’t told me about it, I figured you must be too embarrassed to bring it up so I didn’t say anything about it to you.”

“Oh. That makes sense, I guess. But…”

“So now here he is, happier than he's been since... ever, probably starting to make plans for a more permanent move to Hasetsu, planning out a future as your coach and your husband, and you pull the rug out from under him and say you’re retiring. He even have a clue you were thinking about it?”

“He… he must have… he knew I was thinking about it after Sochi…”

“That was before he came and you made your big comeback. You idiot. Of course Viktor’s mad at you! Are you really gonna go through with it and break his heart like that, or are you gonna suck it up and talk to him and figure out your future together… you know. TOGETHER?”

Yuuri's tears started coming even harder. For once, Mari was completely unsympathetic. “As my big sister, aren’t you supposed to take my side?”

“As your big sister, I’m supposed to kick ass when someone’s trying to hurt you. You’re hurting yourself, therefore, Big Sisterly Ass Kicking.”

 

Before the exhibition, Yuuri came to find her. “You were right. I needed to hear it, so thank you for what you said the other night.”

“You’re welcome. Things with Viktor fixed?”

“Yeah… and we’ve both promised to talk to each other more. We’re gonna need to if he’s coming back and staying on as my coach.”

“That’s gonna be rough on him. Be a good student. Feel free to call if you need a sympathetic ear or a verbal ass-kicking.”

“Thanks, Mari. You’re an awesome big sister. I haven’t said that enough.”

“No, you haven’t. But thanks for saying it now.”


End file.
